Cheika’s packing it as injuries linger
COACH Michael Cheika was forced to put his shoulder to the wheel at Wallabies training yesterday as injury clouds continued to hang unhappily over key Australian stars.
Star trio David Pocock, Israel Folau and Scott Sio all played next-to-no part in Wallabies training again at their west London base due to ongoing injury concerns.
This has left them in considerable doubt for the Wallabies’ semi-final against Argentina early on Monday morning, Pocock (strained calf) didn’t run with the team, Folau (ankle) trained for around 10 minutes before sitting out and a heavily-strapped Sio (elbow) ran on-field only briefly.
With Pocock riding an exercise bike on the sidelines, Cheika was forced to reprise his former days as a back-rower for Randwick and pack down for the Wallabies’ reserves during live scrum practice.
Cheika likes to still get involved in training and former Scotland fullback Hugo Southwell said recently the coach used to do full contact sessions when at Stade Francais.
Flanker Scott Fardy said yesterday: “He still gets in there and throws his weight around. He’s getting a bit old now, he’s starting to get into his late 40s.”
Sio appears the most unlikely to play and though an optimistic Cheika is keen to give them as much time as possible, Pocock and Folau will likely have to train today (UK time) to be able to be named in the side by Cheika later that day.
Kurtley Beale (No.15) and Ben McCalman (No.8) would keep their roles, while James Slipper would be the man to replace Sio.
Injury-watch may have been as grim as the weather but after a week of refereeing controversy, a potential ray of sunlight emerged after the World Cup semi-final officials appointments were released.
The Wallabies-Argentina game will be refereed by Englishman Wayne Barnes – a whistleblower who has never been in charge of an Australian Test loss.
Barnes has reffed the Wallabies on 12 occasions and the men in gold have won all 12.
The man the Kiwis love to hate has refereed the Wallabies in three victories over the All Blacks – including their win in Sydney in August and the Tri-Nations win in Brisbane in 2011.